Author: Blancer

Square Enix-produced Imaginary Range comic book out now, free

About a week ago we heard Square Enix would be releasing an interactive comic for iOS, and now it’s out and available on the App Store in the US on the same date as the Japanese release. While the early reviews are terrific, with art that’s supposed to be really solid and interactive parts keeping everything enjoyable, the real kicker is the price. Square Enix has released the app for free. That’s a solid deal, so if you’re looking for a little something to read through and play with this weekend, there you go.

There’s an HD iPad version as well, and it’s also free. With this, those upcoming Chaos Rings titles, and the arrival of the great Final Fantasy 3 on the iPad recently, Square Enix is really delivering some solid titles for iOS users.

Square Enix-produced Imaginary Range comic book out now, free originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 07 May 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is a Nuance and Apple deal in the works?

TechCrunch is reporting that Apple is in the process of some sort of deal with Nuance Communications, one of the leading companies in the field of speech recognition. Many readers may be familiar with Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, however the Dragon speech engine is also licensed and used in a number of apps for Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android.

What could the deal be? The most obvious choice is an acquisition, but as TC points out, it would cost Apple at least US$6 billion to buy the company. Apple’s got the cash, but even for them that would be quite a purchase. TechCrunch thinks it’s most likely the two companies are entering into some sort of partnership “that will be vital to both companies and could shape the future of iOS.”

Speech recognition has been rumored to be a big part of the future of iOS. Last year, Apple bought another speech recognition company, Siri, which itself is powered by Nuance technology. Perhaps with the release of iOS 5 we’ll be talking to our phones more than using them to talk to people.

Is a Nuance and Apple deal in the works? originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 07 May 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype security flaw already patched, but you have to download manually

There’s a big problem with Skype on the Mac: and no, it’s not its ugly UI (although that is a big problem). As noted by Mashable’s (and former TUAW blogger) Christina Warren, the latest version of Skype for Mac has an unpatched security flaw that that allows a person to gain remote access to another’s machine simply by sending a Skype message. The flaw was discovered last month thanks to the work of researcher Gordon Maddern from the firm Pure Hacking.

Maddern contacted Skype, who was reportedly already aware of the vulnerability and working on a fix. They then issued a hotfix for the security hole in a minor update (Skype for Mac version 5.1.0.922) on April 14th. However, responding to the issue in an official blog post today the Skype for Mac team said, “As there were no reports of this vulnerability being exploited in the wild, we did not prompt our users to install this update, as there is another update in the pipeline that will be sent out early next week.”

What’s that mean to you as a Skype for Mac user? The cat’s out of the bag, and if someone who has the skills to take advantage of the flaw now knows about it, Skype for Mac users who have not updated to version 5.1.0.922 are theoretically at risk. Don’t wait for the automatic update to Skype next week. Be sure and download the April 14th update right now by clicking here, or simply run Skype on your Mac and choose Skype > Check for Updates.

Now about that UI…

Skype security flaw already patched, but you have to download manually originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 07 May 2011 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Save iOS 4.3.3/4.2.8 SHSH blobs for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch [TinyUmbrella Guide]

Notcom’s TinyUmbrella 4.33.00 can save iOS 4.3.3 SHSH blobs for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Follow the steps below to save SHSH blobs for iOS 4.3.2 / 4.2.8 with TinyUmbrella 4.33.00 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 4G, 3G and iPad 2, iPad 1…

TinyUmbrella now supports 4.3.3 and 4.2.8 (Verizon). Sorry for the delay, I’ve been quite busy. I’m working on some pretty drastic changes for TinyUmbrella.

NOTE:

  • iOS 4.3.3 / 4.2.8 SHSH blobs can only be saved if it’s being signed by Apple. Go grab your iOS 4.3.3 SHSH blobs before it’s too late. Apple stops signing a firmware when an updated version is out.
  • TinyUmbrella can save SHSH blobs regardless of jailbreak.
  • With TinyUmbrella you can save SHSH blobs for iOS 4.3.3 / 4.2.8 even if you’re on an older iOS version.

Let’s save iOS 4.3.3, 4.2.8 SHSH blobs for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

How to Save iOS 4.3.3 4.2.8 SHSH blobs

Steps to save SHSH blobs for iOS 4.3.3 / 4.2.8 are exactly similar to the guide posted earlier. So, please navigate to the guide linked below and follow the steps there to save SHSH blobs.

You can follow us on Twitter, Google Buzz, Facebook, and Subscribed to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

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Download TinyUmbrella 4.33.00 – Supports iOS 4.3.3/4.2.8

TinyUmbrella 4.33.00 is now available for download. TinyUmbrella 4.33.00 can save SHSH blobs for iOS 4.3.3 (GSM) and iOS 4.2.8 (CDMA). You can download TinyUmbrella 4.33.00 from the link below.

TinyUmbrella now supports 4.3.3 and 4.2.8 (Verizon). Sorry for the delay, I’ve been quite busy. I’m working on some pretty drastic changes for TinyUmbrella.

For those unfamiliar, TinyUmbrella lets you save SHSH blobs for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV right from Apple Server and also from Cydia. SHSH blobs are required to downgrade device firmware to an older version. Some of the untethered jailbreak tools like Redsn0w 0.9.7 also uses SHSH blobs to provide untethered jailbreak solution.

Download TinyUmbrella 4.33.00

Download TinyUmbrella 4.33.00 for Windows, Mac

You can follow us on Twitter, Join us at Facebook, and also Subscribed to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

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Analysis: Interesting Look At App Pricing From Developer Of Popular Productivity And Cooking Apps

Read an interesting article today from the developer of several popular productivity and cooking apps.

Something very interesting occurred, that really leads you to believe that even with the prices of iPhone apps being so low when compared to other types of computer software that price still plays a large role.

At one point the app was featured by Apple during a feature on cooking apps — and interestingly enough, sales dropped to zero.  The reason being the app was featured side by side with a similar app that offered more features at the same price point.

You can read the full article by Justine Pratt at – which uncovers many more insights into finding the right price for your app at:
Pricing Experimentation A Game We Must Play

Good insight for those struggling to figure out what price to ask for.

©2011 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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Stefan Sagmeister: The Power of Time Off

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Just because you missed that awesome conference, doesn’t mean that you can’t still watch the lectures! This weekend we’re sharing a talk by Stefan Sagmeister, New York-based graphic designer and typographer . Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. This talk is a a fantastic inspiration for all creative disciplines, and explains how taking time off can be better for creative outlook than working extended hours in the office.

Continue reading “Stefan Sagmeister: The Power of Time Off”

An Introduction to Music Theory Part 1- Pitch

Just because you didn’t get to go to that awesome conference doesn’t mean that you can’t still watch the lectures! Each weekend, we’ll feature a recommended audio lecture on Audiotuts+.

This excellent series on music theory by the Australian Institute of Music is designed to introduce you to the fundamentals of music theory. The first lecture explores pitch—what it is and how it is defined.


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Interview With Adrian Romero

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At only 18 Adrian Romero Aka Vision is already creating a name for himself throughout the design world. With a very distinct style Adrian’s illustrations are extremely vibrant and spark about a variety of thoughts from its observers. In our interview Adrian explains the intended ambiguity of his art, as well as gives us a run down on how he created some of his more popular pieces. So be sure to check out this interview with another talented designer.

Q Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

Hi everybody! My name’s Adrian Romero and I am a self-taught freelance Illustrator/Graphic designer from Spain. I started playing with Photoshop and Illustrator a few years ago. I instantly started experimenting and spent a lot of time on it, shortly after I was addicted. Ever since then I’ve been constantly drawing. This discovery has definitely changed my life.

Q Your illustrations seem to be very random but in a good way, they feature various objects and messages that we wouldn’t usually see together on one canvas. Is this your intention when creating art? And if so then why?

I like my pieces to be ambiguous and I tend to be surreal. In my opinion, the perspective of how we see the things changes the context completely. That’s my intention when I create, I love to create some confusion around the main idea, maybe you see the piece and think thing the same that I thought when I created it, or maybe not and that’s pretty interesting.

Q You incorporate a lot of awesome typography into illustrations like “Voyage” and “Power” how do you decide what type of lettering will fit your piece?

I love typography, and playing with it is one of the things I like most. Sometimes is a headache and I make a lot of changes before deciding what kind of typo I will made. Usually I start drawing different ideas on a notebook, then with those ideas I start playing on the computer till it fits well with the piece.

Q Who or what were your main influences that made you pursue the field of designing?

When I started my influences came from Spanish magazines like Belio magazine or Étapes and another Spanish artists or studios like Alex Trochut, Sergio del Puerto (Serialcut), Seleka, Vasava etc. But I’m also pretty influenced by movies, music and everything around me, a walk in the night can be one of the most inspiring things.

Q Some designers your age decide that they will take their talents to a University to perfect the craft of digital art, are you planning to do the same? Or will you look to skip that and head straight into looking for work?

That’s the huge decision that I have to make this year. I will finish college soon and I’ll start moving on and see what comes. I would love to go to university and I would love to travel to another country and study there. We’ll see what happens.

Q “Destroy” is a simply amazing intricate illustration that has a bunch of detailed features to it, could you run down how you made this piece and what the meaning is behind it.

Thanks! Destroy was a very complicated piece to me. It changed a lot since I started it and finally it went well. I used a lot of papers sketching. The main idea of the piece was to express the contradiction that the word destroy could be, depending on if we focus on the end of something or the new beginning of another one. Then in the piece we have some kind of machinery that feeds itself destruction to create, but not in a dark way, in a way to make the things a new and better. 

Q What can we look for from you in the future? What projects will you be working on?

I’m working on some projects that I cant unveil yet and I’m also working with the Slashthree collective on something you will see at the OFFF in Barcelona.

Q Thanks again for providing Psdtuts+ with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

Thanks for having me and thanks to everyone who follows and like my work. Bye!

Where to find Adrian on the Web

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LG Pulls Out the Big Guns With Dual-Core Android Phone

Like some geekier version of the Cold War, the mobile phone arms race of 2011 has manufacturers stockpiling as much brawn as possible into the limited space of a handset.

And with its G2x Android smartphone, LG has outed itself as a superpower.

LG’s flagship phone is running on Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core 1-GHz processor. Are two cores really better than one? After playing with the G2x, I sure think so.

Right off the bat, the power of this chip is noticeable. Switching back and forth between different menu screens is seamless, and speedier than ever. Scroll downward through the pre-loaded catalog of apps, and the icons cascade like a waterfall. When I played the Halo-esque game that comes with the phone — a taxing first-person shooter in HD — it ran with minimal choppiness while handling some fairly intense animations.

With such a powerful processor at work, it’s a bit surprising the phone only comes with 512 MB of RAM installed. That might not prove to be enough for any especially resource-hungry apps and games that will arrive in the future. But for now, the phone ran the apps I threw at it like a charm.

One downside to all that power is that the back of the handset tends to get toasty after extended periods of use. So, unless you frequently suffer from cold ears, this is probably not a desirable attribute.

The phone’s 4-inch capacitive touchscreen displays color brilliantly, though I couldn’t help but wish for a larger screen for gaming. HDMI-out is always an option, and full HD mirroring lets you use the phone as a gyroscopically sensitive controller while playing on your big screen. But an extra half-inch or so of pixel real estate would have sated my thirst just the same.

The 8-megapixel rear-facing camera takes some of the clearest, crispest photos I’ve seen on a smartphone, while the 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera worked well enough for chats. My biggest camera gripe: The delay between hitting the photo button and the “shutter” closing is far too long to accurately capture that spur-of-the-moment goofy face your friend is making.

LG went with a stock version of Android 2.2 Froyo for the G2x. Frankly, not having to deal with another manufacturer’s skin is a big plus: Interfaces like HTC’s Sense or Motoblur just feel chunky compared to the bare-bones version of the OS (and to Android purists, they’re practically a sin). Although it’s not running the latest version of Android (Gingerbread) quite yet, this phone is slated to receive the OS update sometime this summer.

T-Mobile’s network performance on the phone was adequate, but left me wanting. T-Mobile markets its HSPA+ as “4G” — a term which has grown quite murky — with “theoretical peak download speeds reaching 21 Mbps and peak upload speeds of up to 5.7 Mbps.”

But you probably won’t be seeing those speeds. Over the course of two weeks of testing in the San Francisco Bay Area, I averaged download speeds ranging between 2.5 and 5.5 Mbps, and upload speeds anywhere from 0.2 Mbps to 2.2 Mbps.

My only major quibble with the hardware design is the phone’s backbone: It’s got too damn much of it. A thin metal strip tapers up the back of the handset into the edge of the camera. In theory, the edge works perfectly as a rest for your index finger while taking a call. In practice, it just feels freaking weird.

But my minor complaints about the G2x are far outweighed by its superior under-the-hood firepower. If this is the direction that LG is taking its phones — stock operating system, beefy hardware specs, peripheral-friendly — we’re eager to see more.

WIRED HDMI-out and DLNA compatibility make for cozy communication with peripherals and HDTVs. Expandable micro SD to 32 GB leaves room for tons of tunes.

TIRED Non-skinned interface without the latest version of Android (Froyo, not Gingerbread) makes us sad. Screen forebodingly froze up on us twice during testing, requiring reboot.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Need Content And Some Articles For A New Website

First, the website is story site, please take a look at the old content of this website (I’ll provide the link in PMB); you’ll need to rewrite the content of the “home page”, “about us” page because the content is not able to pass copyscape checking. Please be creative and feel free to just write your own.

after, you need to write 8-10 different stories from the following categories, or feel free to create your own as long as the story is well written to attract visitors/readers:

Memoirs
Family
Diary
Dream stories
Short stories
Poetry
Spirituality
Others

The stories need to be:

– Original and unique to pass copyscape checking
– Good English, no grammatical or spelling mistakes
– SEO, good quality, informative
– above 450 words

Those stories are allowed to be re-published on other story site in the future but must have link back and indicated the original source.

thanks

Microsoft Chatpad Drivers For Pc

-[Taken from http://www.mp3car.com/hardware-development/140189-contest-xbox-chatpad-driver-challenge.html ] below is an excerpt from the link above. Make sure to read all my project decription below before checking out the links, as there are import notes marked as numbers. This project is for the creation of a driver for the microsoft chatpad for the pc. There is currently a contest in which a purse of $595(and rising fast!) is up for grabs for the completion of these drivers. please email me with any questions. quick link are at the bottom of the page.

1)please note that the link above will state the following
———————————————————————-
‘ANNOUNCEMENT!- We have our first set of drivers posted!

Gafblizzard has been working feverishly on making drivers that fit above and beyond the criteria of this contest. There is still some polishing to do, and only wired controllers are supposed for now, but this is by far the best set of drivers that have ever been available for the xbox chatpad inside windows.

We plan on a week or two more of testing and polishing, and then hopefully put this to a vote. If we, the participants, agree by majority that these drivers are fit enough to stand as a practical option to use the xbox chatpad in windows, then GafBlizzard will be the winner.

Here is the Getting Started page he wrote. Please read this first before installing. http://code.google.com/p/chatpad-sup…GettingStarted

Here is the driver download page- http://code.google.com/p/chatpad-super-driver/”
————————————————————

2) I have been in contact with Gafblizzard via email and he is no longer working on the drivers. here is a qoute

“I’m afraid I have not been working on them lately. 🙁 Life was busy,
and is not too great right now.

I’m full of excuses.

Thanks for the info on the startup thing. I just try to be wary of
what I try and recommend on startup since it kind of circumvents the
Windows security stuff and ideally I would have drivers signed
eventually.

I doubt I ever tested with hibernation, so my driver probably doesn’t
handle that properly.

-Josh”

3) As you can see he is not interested in the completion of this project anymore, and there is still lots of work to do. The current Drivers are very unstable, have installation issues, cause crashes, and are plagued with many issues. Also they are not signed so you have to manually go into disable driver signature before starting windows everytime to use them! I Do not believe that he will ever finish these drivers, so the purse money is still up for grabs!

Also very importantly he is currently only working on drivers for the wired controller, there is a high demand for wireless chatpad drivers.

If someone can post a working beta driver, or even post on the forum that you are going to be working hard on a driver superior to Gafblizzard, or supported with the wireless controller. The contest fund will not go over to gafblizzard, and the purse will go up exponentially!

Below is the official webpage to the contest, here is an excerpt
———————————————————————
This is the official thread to the MP3Cardotcom Xbox Chatpad Driver Challenge. While MP3Car is not responsible for any liabilities that might occur, they have authorized this event to take place and we are all extremely excited that they have done so.

TOTAL PURSE AS OF 11/10/2010- $595
Thanks to: mp3Car ($25 and paypal fees), Nick Yankaitis ($50), Kevin Bradshaw ($50), Paul Rimmer ($25), Scribelife ($25), Kevinmind88 ($25), Miyagin ($20), Tidder ($100), in order of donation. Rosa ($20) Gazbit ($125) Naylia (25) Churchill Navigation ($100)

The Goal- To create an open-souce, fully functional set of drivers for the Xbox 360 Controller to utilize the Chatpad peripheral accurately to work on Windows computers. There is a Paypal donation link provided, and the winner of this contest will get the full purse. MP3Car has voluntarily gestured to start the bank with $25, and they have pledged to pay any associated paypal fees; this ensures the winner will get the entire donated amount.

The Rules –

1. Driver must be open source.
2. Driver must install in windows XP, Vista OR Win7 (support for only ONE operating system is now OK).
3. Xbox Chatpad must work like a regular keyboard in Windows.
4. Driver must install along with or completely replace the original Xbox drivers, and must not effect the original function of the controller in any way. This can be accomplished by re-writing the original drivers, or having a one-click accessible add-on activate on top of the working original drivers when wanted.
5. The first member to post their own original working drivers in this thread will be the winner. This winner must be accepted by the majority of the participants, for quality of product and authenticity of workmanship.
———————————————

Below is an except from another website

– [Taken from http://www.missingremote.com/blog/xbox-360-chatpad-driver-challenge-0]
————————————————————
Lately I have started playing games on my Home Theater PC. Sitting on my couch and playing video games on my 42″ tv is absolutely great. It’s comfortable, the screen’s big, I can kick my feet up. All around excellent. To play games I use a Logitech Rumblepad 2 for playing the game and a Logitech diNovo Mini for communicating in the games. Pick up, put down, pick up, put down…over and over. This for me is the biggest issue I have with gaming on my HTPC. I’ve also never really been interested in the lap board with keyboard and mouse. I like my controllers!

Enter the Xbox 360 Gamepad with Chatpad – A controller, a great one at that, that has a snap in thumb keyboard for typing. It’s amazing anytime I use it on the Xbox.

The Catch – While the Xbox 360 Gamepad works great on the PC, there is ZERO support from Microsoft for the Chatpad. People all over the internet have pushed on Microsoft in every public forum imaginable, but all that ever happens is one division at Microsoft points at another as having responsibility for the development. Someone even wrote a Macintosh OS X driver for it, and there is still nothing working for the PC.

Beyond playing games on your HTPC, this also becomes an alternative style remote for Windows MC or other app. With great wireless range, and no line of sight required, you could locate your HTPC in a closet or cabinet and still surf the web, or just use the Dpad and buttons to quickly navigate around. Analog sticks can be remapped to mouse movement, all of which makes this a very unique and flexible alternative to you standard mouse/keyboard combo.

To that end, the folks over at MP3Car.com have started a collection fund to support the rewarding of the first person to develop a PC driver for the Xbox 360 Chatpad. Today I pledged $25 via PayPal, and if this is something you think you’d find useful I encourage you to go do the same. Who knows, our very own Mikinho might be the one to solve the problem.

The Goal – To create an open-souce, fully functional set of drivers for the Xbox 360 Controller to utilize the Chatpad peripheral accurately to work on Windows computers. There is a Paypal donation link provided, and the winner of this contest will get the full purse. MP3Car has voluntarily gestured to start the bank with $25, and they have pledged to pay any associated paypal fees; this ensures the winner will get the entire donated amount.

The Rules
1. Driver must be open source.
2. Driver must install in windows XP, Vista OR Win7 (support for only ONE operating system is now OK).
3. Xbox Chatpad must work like a regular keyboard in Windows.
4. Driver must install along with or completely replace the original Xbox drivers, and must not effect the original function of the controller in any way. This can be accomplished by re-writing the original drivers, or having a one-click accessible add-on activate on top of the working original drivers when wanted.
5. The first member to post their own original working drivers in this thread will be the winner. This winner must be accepted by the majority of the participants, for quality of product and authenticity of workmanship.

[MP3Car]

——————————————————-

4) Ok so that is a summary of this project. Here are the links for your reference.

Official Contest and Forum
http://www.mp3car.com/hardware-development/140189-contest-xbox-chatpad-driver-challenge.html

Gafblizzard’s unstable incomplete chatpad super driver
http://code.google.com/p/chatpad-super-driver/

Good Luck to you, and please contact me or post in the forum for anymore inofrmation!

Regards,

Peter

Website Template Design Today-10-12 Page

Hey Folks,

I am looking for an EYE-CATCHING WEBSITE TEMPLATE for my ECOMMERCE SALES recruitment website. The design should be modern and sleek.

The design will include 10-12 PAGE WEBSITE DESIGN, the TEMPLATE should be WEB 2.0, DIV BASED design.

The site will then connect to my backend DYNAMIC CMS, your JOB is only the design of the FRONT END SITE.

Sample Site Idea: www.redprairie.co.uk

Budget: $40-$100

Time To Complete: 48 HOURS

Payment Method: PayPal when complete.

PLEASE NOTE: SAMPLE TEMPLATE MUST BE PROVIDED TODAY, with the site complete within 48 hours from starting.

Please send details of your offer to my PMB for review, then i will communicate more on what i am looking for.

Thank You